About The Artist - Susan Gott
Susan Gott has worked in glass for 30 years and specializes in cast glass to create one-of-a-kind sculptures. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in glass from Kent State University; Bachelor’s from Radford University and studied glass at Pilchuck, Haystack, Arrowmont, and Penland School. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including an American Craft Council Award of Excellence, Crafts Woman of the Year, Individual Artist Fellowship, New Forms Florida, and Craftswoman of the Year.
Susan’s work can be found in major galleries and in numerous private and corporate collections including Raymond James Financial, The Kessler Collection, Polypack, and Disney Corporate Collection. Her work can be found in permanent museum collections including the Alexander Brest Museum, Cafesjian Museum of Art in Armenia, The St. Pete Museum and The Polk Museum of Art.
Susan Gott has created large scale, public art works using cast glass bas-relief panels, lighting, fountains, seating, combining steel and stone, and are included in the public collections of the City of Tampa, Port St. Lucie, University of Central Florida, Port Tampa Library, The City of St. Petersburg, and HARTline’s University Area Transit Center. Her work is published in New Glass Review, Glass Art 2000, Glass Art Magazine, Sunshine Artist and American Craft.
Susan grew up in Virginia and Tennessee and resides in central Tampa. She built and works from her own Phoenix Glass Studio where she combines studio and home into a unique artist’s atelier. She has over seventeen years experience as an art educator and has worked with several non-profit organizations including the Glass Art Society. Susan organized the 1999 Glass Art Society Conference held in Tampa and served as the Conference Co-Chair.
About the Work –Artist’s Statement Influences and Process
My work embodies an interest in mythological imagery, symbolism, and philosophies from historic and ancient cultures. I love to travel and I am intensely interested in ancient civilizations, symbols of ritual art, ancient myths and how they connect us, most deeply, with our own nature and our place in this world. The resulting glass, with primitive qualities and metaphors, are a visual re—presentation of the cycles of life. The archetypal images that emerge explore spirituality, existence, humor, love, magic, dualities and the beauty of life. The human form is a vessel for my connection to Spirit. The elements of this ancient, visual language have become enmeshed in my thought and in my art as I create a new mythos in glass.
The casting process is intense and involves ladling the molten glass directly from the furnace at 2300° F. Timing, temperature and the casting team all have to work together with absolute accuracy to create each piece. I frequently work with a rigid sand mold technique, for it allows detail and the ability to work on a large scale. The interior images, symbols, inclusions and color are manipulated into the glass before it cools. After annealing, the individually created mold is destroyed and each casting is one of a kind. The glass sculpture must be ground and polished and the surfaces are enhanced with enamels, copper, gold leaf, patinas and etching. Combining glass with steel and stone brings yet another natural element to the sculpture. Sand casting combines my aesthetic concerns and allows an articulate yet raw method of expressing this ancient connection to the contemporary.
